2. What is an ecological footprint?
Allows us to calculate human pressure on the
planet. How much of Earth´s resources are we
using and is it sustainable?
Ecological footprint is how much land is
required to provide all the population´s
resources and absorb the wastes it generates
3.
4. How is footprint calculated?
• The amount of material consumed by that
person (tons per year) is divided by the yield of
the specific land or sea area (annual tons per
hectare) from which it was harvested, or where
its waste material was absorbed.
5. Sample Human Footprint
What is the average human footprint if one person
uses 23.47 Ha of land and the Earth´s average
available for each human is 15.71 Ha?
6. Current world footprint
• Answer: 23.47 Ha needed/15.71 Ha available.
= 1.49 (or 150% of land use)
• This means we are overshooting the Earth's
biological capacity by nearly 50%. To sustain
present levels of consumption, we would need:
• Is this sustainable?
